A/N: Source material based on Avengers #263, Fantastic Four #286, Uncanny X-Men #200-201(and various others later), and referances to X-Factor #1.

While doing research for Mark, I came across some panels of these issues (read them years ago), and my mind asked the questions: What if one of the X-Men had answered the phone? What if Jean had rejoined the X-Men instead of joining X-Factor after she was revived? These are the answers my mind came up with. Enjoy!

Part 1: Reclaiming Life

Chapter 1: The Seed of Life

The shuttle of the Fantastic Four settled on the back lawn of Avengers Mansion in a cloud of dust and leaves thrown up by the landing thrusters. Doctor Reed Richards descended the ramp with a confused look on his face. Captain America, Hercules, and the mansion's butler, Jarvis were waiting at the back door for them with concerned faces. Reed ignored She-Hulk and Hercules as they flirted with each other, proceeding straight to the Captain.

"What is so urgent, Steve?" Reed asked.

"We found something in the bay. Hank's not around, and you're the only one I know of with the expertise to have a look at it," Steve Rogers answered. "We can't make heads or tails of what it is, what it's made out of, what it was doing in Jamaica Bay in the first place, or if it's a threat."

"Anything you can tell me about it?" Reed asked as they reached the elevator.

"It's black, smooth, and giving off heat," Steve answered.

"Where's Tony? Couldn't he look at it?" Reed asked slightly annoyed with Steve's answer.

"Tony is in California with Clint and the WCA," Steve frowned. "We…have a few different opinions of late."

"Alright," Reed nodded.

They remained silent as they walked down the corridor to the lab. As the doors opened, Reed's curiosity grew substantially as the object came into view. It was a smooth black coffin sized rectangular object. It had a layer of water-aged silt and barnacles on its surface that gave off a slight pungent smell of fresh bay water. The domed top and bottom of the capsule were symmetrical to each other. Reed thought it looked like a medicine capsule large enough to place a human in. As Reed took a closer look, ideas were racing through his mind. Most were dismissed, some were possible, others seemed improbable. "Has anyone touched it with bare a hand?"

"No, none of us have even gone close to it since we brought it in," Steve answered.

Reed reached out with an extremely cautious hand, touching the black surface. He felt the heat through his glove. It radiated what felt like normal human body heat temperature.

"Have you run any scans?" Reed asked.

"No one on the current roster has any experience with anything in here, so no, we haven't," Steve answered slightly sassy.

"Give me a few hours," Reed nodded absently. "Oh, and have someone research anything about Jamaica Bay. Some answers may come from that," he added as he turned to get to work on the mysterious object.

Steve left as Reed started his work. First Reed set to cleaning the muck and dirt from the object. He did, however, take a few samples of the silt and barnacles for testing. Once he had it clean, Reed stood by the exam table, hand resting on his chin as he thought. Placing his hands on the object again, trying to estimate the temperature, he frowned as it felt the same. Stretching out his rubber-like arm, he pulled a scanner over to the table. The readings on the display made little sense, perplexing him further. It had a low, cold surface temperature, but the internal temperature was slightly more than a normal human, yet the surface was warm to the touch. Reed pulled other scanners over, studying each reading that was displayed.

"Reed," She-Hulk call from the door. Reed turned. "There was only one thing we could find that happened in Jamaica Bay. The X-Men crashed a shuttle there ten years ago."

Reed nodded, turning a thoughtful gaze back to the scanners. The readings suddenly made sense. "A cocoon! Jen, have Cap find out the roster of the X-Men back when the shuttle crashed! Also, have him try to get ahold of Hank again urgently. He may know something."

"You got it," she called as she left with haste.

Reed picked up a scalpel, scraping a few flakes off the surface and placing them in a test tube. He took them over to an analyzer, and waited for the results. As he read the atomic structure of the flakes, more of the readings started to make sense. The size, the shape, even the temperature readings all pointed to a cocoon of some kind. Reed grabbed a life signs scanner, holding it over the surface. The steady thud of a heartbeat filled the lab. Brainwave activity was well above normal, indicating the person inside had psychic abilities.

"Jarvis," Reed called into the intercom rather loudly.

"Yes, sir," came the immediate answer.

"Have Steve call or visit any of the X-Men's families that have died in the last ten years. They may be in for a hell of a shock," Reed told him.

"Yes, sir, right away."

Reed knew he needed to find a way to open it. He thought for several minutes. Reed started running random stimulation tests on the flakes. Sound had no effect. Light, in all spectrums, no effect. Radiation, no effect. He continued with anything he could think of. Reed was deep into his tests and didn't notice that Sue and Jen had entered the lab with Jarvis.

"Reed, honey," Sue placed a hand on his shoulder. "We brought you some coffee and pastries."

"Hm, oh. Thanks," Reed acknowledged absently. He was deep in thought again. He looked back at the structure of the shell from the analyzer. An idea struck him. He grabbed an electrode and touched one of the flakes. It crumbled in to dust. "Got it! Sue, hand me those electrodes over there!" he shouted excitedly.

Reed stretched out to the far side of the room and started fastening three straps on the cocoon as Sue brought over the electrodes. Placing them under the straps, Reed secured them down before stepping back, returning to his normal form. He focused the heart monitor on the object to observe the reactions. Jarvis still stood by the door, well away from everything, holding the coffee tray. Jen moved over to protect him in case this was a villain. Reed pressed a button, activating the electrodes.

The shell of the cocoon began to spark and glow as it cracked. At first, it was just a few small lines in the smooth black shell, then the center of it started to glow with a bright white light as the lines became cracks and as those cracks became small fissures.

"I think it's hatching," Jen commented uneasily.

"Can you put up a force field that can stop something like telekinesis?" Reed asked Sue quickly.

"I can try," Sue answered, placing an invisible shield around them as the shell started to shatter.

A second after a blinding flash of light shown harshly throughout the lab, a woman in a torn black evening gown with red hair emerged. She looked around angrily as all the objects that were not secured to the floor outside of Sue's shield began to float as whirl around with immense speed.

"Your game is finished, Lang!" she yelled as she looked around, anger and confusion mixed on her face.

"My word!" Jarvis exclaimed as he cringed away from several objects hitting the shield in front of him. The woman swung her head toward him, but looked surprised.

"What? Where am I? Where's the X-Men?"

"Calm down, please," Reed pleaded. "I'm Reed Richards of…"

"The Fantastic Four," she looked at him. "You had blue uniforms last I saw you."

"We've changed them recently," Sue answered. "You know us?"

"We've met," she answered guardedly. "Why is the She-Hulk wearing one of your uniforms?"

"The Thing is taking some time off," Reed answered. "Could you…uh…maybe stop doing that?" he pointed at the instruments and things floating around.

"Oh, sorry," she apologized. The things floated to the floor ever so lightly. "Uh…where am I?"

"Avengers Mansion," Sue answered. "They found the cocoon you were in but had to call Reed in, because no one knew how to operate the equipment in here."

"Who are you, by the way?" Reed asked.

"Jean Grey," she answered.

"Not possible," Reed looked at her skeptically.

"Excuse me? How is it not possible?" Jean's eyes flashed with anger making things float again.

"You died six years ago," Sue answered.

"No, I didn't!" Jean looked at her outraged. She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. "Look, call the Xavier's School, someone there can vouch for me. Especially, Cyclops or Storm, if the Professor's not available."

"Sue, why don't you try talking to her woman to woman? Try to keep her calm," Reed asked. "I'll make the call."

"Alright," Sue nodded. She walked over to Jean to try and explain a few things and get a few answers along the way.

XMXMXM

Logan growled as he pulled his last beer out of the refrigerator. The team had been so busy lately he hadn't had time to buy more, or even put it on the grocery list. Just as he opened the bottle, the telephone rang. Logan snarled slightly as he picked it up.

"Xavier's School," he growled.

"I need to speak with one of the X-Men."

"I don't know where ya got that information, bub, but…"

"This is Reed Richards of the…"

"The FF, yeah, yeah, I know ya," Logan grunted as he took a sip of his beer. "Whatda need, Stretch?"

"First, who am I speaking with?"

"Wolverine," Logan growled into the phone before taking another drink of his beer.

"Please, hold on a second?"

"Yeah, whatever," Logan grunted.

Logan was about to take another sip until his keen ears picked up the conversation on the other end of the line. He froze. His internal alarms going nuts.

"Do you know a Wolverine?" he heard Reed ask someone.

"Yes! If anyone can, he can vouch for me!" Logan's blood ran cold. How was he hearing that voice? "Here, let me speak to him." There was a short pause with a small rustling sound. "Logan?"

"Jeannie?" he asked with a whimpered and shaky voice. His beer slipped out of his numb hand, shattering on the floor. He leaned heavily back against the counter as he felt the air leave his lungs. He tried twice before he could swallow the hard lump in his throat. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, Logan, it's me," her voice a soothing song in his ears.

"Where are you?" he asked as he suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline.

"Avengers' Mansion," Jean answered.

"Stay put, darlin'. We'll come get ya," Logan rushed out. He looked at the clock. "Be there in ten, fifteen minutes, tops."

"Okay, see you then."

As the line went dead, Logan dropped the phone with a loud clatter. He spun around leaning on the counter, trying to get control. He had to take slow deep breaths to steady his shaking body. Once he had control of the shaking he turned to the door.

"STORM!" he roared out. His cry echoed through the mansion. He was sure that anyone above ground in the house had heard him.

In less than a minute Ororo Munroe, Storm, came running into the kitchen. Her eyes took in the telephone and broken glass laying in a puddle of beer, Logan leaning on the counter looking whiter than she had ever seen the man. "Logan? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"No, not seen…yet," he paused taking another deep breath. "Talked to one on the phone."

"What are you talking…" Storm had to stop as Logan sudden started running down the hallway. "Where are you going?"

"Richards from the FF called," Logan huffed as he reached the elevator. "Someone claimin' ta be Jeannie is at Avengers' Mansion."

"What!" she shouted, grabbing his arms in shock. Logan pulled free a little roughly.

"Call the team if ya wanna go with me," Logan growled, "but I'm headin' there right now!"

"Oh, believe me, my friend, I am coming with you!" Storm replied as she pressed her com-link. "X-Men, gather in the hanger NOW! We have an URGENT mission!"